Game system, program for game system and information recording medium

ABSTRACT

The present application facilitates reconstruction of a party after game over to avoid wastefulness in time required for party construction. Moreover, the present application aims at hastening reconstruction of the party to improve real thrill of the game. A game server executes the game. The game server includes a party storage for storing party information relating to the party. The party includes characters. A reached points storage stores, for each character, at least one point that the character has reached. An interface transmits, for a first character, display information that is operative to display to the first character the at least one point that the first character has reached. The display information is also operative to display to the first character the at least one point that each other character has reached and that the first character has also reached.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/276,623, filed on Oct. 19, 2011, which claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Japanese Application No. 2010-241734filed on Oct. 28, 2010. The disclosures of these documents, includingthe specifications, drawings, and claims, are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an on-line game system through aninformation communication network.

BACKGROUND ART

Hitherto, there has been known an on-line game system in which clientcomputers are connected to a game server computer through an informationcommunication network (Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No.2004-105444). In such a game system, many and unspecified users whooperate clients can enjoy within virtual spaces which are set in thegame server.

Moreover, as a form of the on-line game, there are known MassivelyMultiplayer Role-Playing-Games (MMORPGs). In general MMORPGs, playercharacters that many and unspecified users manipulate are active withinvirtual spaces which are provided by the game server. Further, userscooperate with each other to attain various and versatile problemsprovided by the game server.

In such MMORPGs, player character is ordinarily placed in game overstate in the case where any task which has been set cannot be attained.As the condition of the game over, various conditions are conceivable.For example, when hit point (HP) parameter of player character becomesequal to zero, it is assumed that the condition of task cannot beattained. Further, when hit point (HP) parameter of a player charactermanipulated by a client becomes equal to zero, the progress of the gameof the player character retroacts back to a certain point (resurrectionpoint). Data relating to the resurrection points are stored in advancein each storage part of clients or the game server every playercharacters. Thus, resurrection points of respective player charactersare read out from the storage part with the fact that the game overcondition is satisfied being as motivation so that the progresses wouldbe retroactive every player characters.

PRIOR ART REFERENCE Patent Reference

-   [Patent reference 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No.    2004-105444

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved

In such MMORPGs as described above, there is generally employed such ascheme to constitute a party by a plurality of player characters so thatplayer characters within the party cooperate with each other to aim atattaining the objects while intimately communicating with each other.However, in conventional MMORPGs, when player character included withina party is placed in game over state, player characters included withinthe party are respectively restored at own resurrection points. Namely,in conventional MMORPGs, even in the case where a party is constitutedby a plurality of player characters, points to be restored after gameover were different every player characters.

As described above, when resurrection points of player charactersincluded within a party are different from each other, in such a case toaim at forming a parry by the same members for a second time to overcomeproblems, player characters must be moved from respective ownresurrection points within a virtual space to rendezvous of the party.Such move from resurrection points to the rendezvous resulted inwastefulness in time within an actual world.

Moreover, in MMORPGs, there is the real thrill in that respective userscan form a party, and can aim at solving the problems while cooperatingwith each other every party. However, when player characters arerestored at resurrection own points every time all player characterswithin the party are placed in game over state, any other user feelstroublesome in reconstructing a party together with any other user sothat interestingness of the on-line game itself would bedisadvantageously would be lost.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to simplifyreconstruction of a party after game over to avoid wastefulness in timefor constructing a party. In addition, another object of the presentinvention is to hasten user to reconstruct a party to improve real tasteof an on-line game.

Means for Solving the Problems

In the present invention, user of a game essentially performs a display,on a display part of a client, so that the user of the game can alsoselect resurrection points of other characters included within a party.Thus, since resurrection points of other characters can be also selectedwith respect to resurrection points of respective characters includedwithin the party, it is possible to avoid wastefulness in time requiredfor gathering with each other around one location for the purpose ofreconstructing a party. At the same time, since there results motivationfor party reconstruction, the possibility that interesting of theon-line game may be lost would be eliminated.

The first aspect of the present invention relates to an on-line gamesystem using a computer connected through an information communicationnetwork, in which characters existing within a virtual space provided bya game server are subjected to input manipulation by an input part ofthe client.

The game system according to the present invention includes a partystorage part, a condition storage part, a resurrection point storagepart, a determining part, a resurrection point extracting part and aresurrection point display part.

The party storage part serves to store party information relating to aparty within which a plurality characters are included.

The condition storage part serves to store therewithin a condition wherea party is placed in game over state.

The resurrection point storage part serves to store therewithinrespective resurrection points included within a party.

The determining part serves to determine by making reference to theparty storage part and the condition storage part as to whether or not agame over condition where the party is placed in game over state issatisfied.

The resurrection point extracting part serves to extract a resurrectionpoint of a character included within a party from the resurrection pointstorage part in the case where it is determined by the determining partthat the game over condition is satisfied.

The resurrection point display part serves to display a resurrectionpoint extracted by the resurrection point extracting part on the displaypart of a client which performs input manipulation of charactersincluded within a part to hasten usr of the game to select resurrectionpoints.

As described above, since the present invention employs a scheme tohasten users of a game to select resurrection points from resurrectionpoints of all characters included within a part, user can restore evenresurrection points of any other player. Accordingly, there can beavoided troublesomeness such that respective characters gather with eachother at one location for reconstructing the party, leading to economyof real time. Moreover, since it becomes easy to reconstruct a party, itis possible to promote to play a game in which the party is constructed.Thus, real taste of the game can be improved.

In the game system according to the present invention, it is preferablethat the resurrection point display part serves to display aresurrection point, at which character is subjected to inputmanipulation by a client, having gained experience among resurrectionpoints extracted by the resurrection point extracting part on thedisplay part of the client to hasten user of the game to selectresurrection points having gained experience. Namely, in MMORPGs, aspecific point within a virtual space provided by the game server canresult in resurrection point. The game server or respective clients isor are adapted to store a certain point where a character has beenreached within the virtual space.

Thus, the present invention permits user to make a play along scenarioof a game thus to have ability to sustain interest with respect to thegame of user.

It is preferable that the game system according to the present inventionfurther includes a text information display part for displaying, on adisplay part of the client which performs input manipulation ofcharacters included within a party, text information inputted by inputparts of respective clients for a time period during which a display tohasten selection of resurrection points is made on a display part of aclient.

By employing such a configuration, the present invention can determineresurrection points of respective characters included within a party bychat while consulting between users within the party. Accordingly, evenin the case where there results game over as the entirety of the party,it is possible to promote to more degree reconstruction of the party fora second time.

It is preferable that the game system according to the present inventionfurther includes judging means, a game processing part and aresurrection processing part.

The judging means serves to judge as to whether or not resurrectablepoints inputted and selected by input parts of respective clients whichperforms input manipulation of characters included within a partycoincide with each other.

The game processing part executes a game for determining one winneramong a plurality of characters included within the party in the casewhere it is judged by the judging means that resurrectable pointscoincide with each other.

The resurrection processing part serves to restore characters includedwithin a party at a resurrection point inputted and selected by theinput part of the client which manipulates a character which is a winnerof a game executed by the game processing part.

By employing such a configuration, the present invention can determine,by the game, resurrection points of characters included within a partyin the case where resurrection points determined by users includedwithin the party do not all coincide with each other. As describedabove, resurrection points included within the party can be unified bythe game. For this reason, there may result in motivation forreconstructing a party. Moreover, even after main, i.e., master game inwhich users participate is placed in game over state, user can enjoygame as slave game (mini game). For this reason, it is possible to takeinterest or concern of user.

The second aspect of the invention relates to a program for an on-linegame system using a computer connected through an informationcommunication network, in which characters existing within a virtualspace provided by a game server are subjected to input manipulation byinput parts of clients.

The program according to the present invention is adapted to allow thecomputer to operate as a computer including party storage means,condition storage means, resurrection point storage part, determiningmeans, resurrection point extracting means, and resurrection pointdisplay means.

The party storage means is means for storing party information relatingto a party within which a plurality of characters are included.

The condition storage means is means for storing a condition where theparty is placed in game over state.

The resurrection point storage part is means for storing respectiveresurrection points included within a party.

The determining means is means for determining, by making reference tothe party storage means and the condition storage means, as to whetheror not there is satisfied a game over condition where the party isplaced in game over state.

The resurrection point extracting means is means operative when it isdetermined by the determining means that the party is placed in gameover state, it serves to extract resurrection points of charactersincluded within a party from the resurrection point storage part.

The resurrection point display part is means for displaying resurrectionpoints extracted by the resurrection point extracting part on displayparts of clients which performs input manipulation of charactersincluded within a party to hasten user of the game to selectresurrection points.

The third aspect of the present invention relate to a computer readableinformation recording medium in which the program for game systemaccording to the second aspect of the present invention is stored.

EFFECTS/ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

By employing the configuration as described above, the present inventionis adapted to simplify reconstruction of the party after game over tothereby have ability to avoid wastefulness in time for partyconstruction, and to have ability to hasten user to reconstruct a partyto improve real thrill of the on-line game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a game system according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hard ware configuration of a clientin the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the game system according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a display screen of a client.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a display screen of a client.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of thegame system according to the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments according to the present invention will now bedescribed. It should be noted that the present invention is not limitedto embodiments described below. Namely, the present invention includes ascope within which modifications/changes are made as occasion demandswithin the scope within which the person skilled in the art isself-explanatory from the preferred embodiments described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for realizing a game system 1according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 ofthe present invention includes a server 2 and clients 3. The server 2 isconnected to a plurality of clients 3 through a communication networksuch as Internet, etc. The server 2 is a game server providing a virtualspace, and can perform download or streaming distribution of gameprograms with respect to the clients 3 through the communicationnetwork. In the client 3, there are stored programs for performingdownload and/or streaming distribution of game programs from the server2. There may exist a plurality of servers 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, the server 2 includes an input/output part 21, acontrol part 22, an arithmetic processing part 23 and a storage part 24,wherein these components are connected by way of a bus 25, etc. so thattransmission/reception of information can be performed. In thisembodiment, for example, work areas of the control part 22, thearithmetic processing part 23 and the storage part 24 of the server mayfunction as a party storage part 10, a condition storage part 11, aresurrection point storage part 12, a determining part 13, aresurrection point extracting part 14, a resurrection point display part15, a text information display part 16, a judging part 17, a gameprocessing part 18 and a resurrection processing part 19. When apredetermined information is inputted from the input/output part 11, thecontrol part 12 serves to read out control program stored in a mainmemory of the storage part 14. Further, the control part 12 serves toread out data stored in the storage part 14 as occasion demands inaccordance with command of the control program to perform apredetermined operation at the arithmetic processing part 13. Inaddition, the control part 12 serves to temporarily store computationalresult into the storage part 14 to output information from theinput/output part 11.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardwareconfiguration of each client 3. The client 3 includes an input part 31,a CPU32, an arithmetic processing part 33, a storage part 34 and animage processing block 35. Further, respective components are connectedso that transmission/reception of information can be performed by way ofa bus 36. Further, this game system is connected to an interface (I/F)37 through the bus 36. For this reason, e.g., this game system can beconnected to an information recording medium 38 in which programs arestored through the I/F 37. The programs stored in the informationrecording medium 38 serve to allow computer or image processing part tofunction as a predetermined means. In addition, these programs serve toallow computer or image processing part to execute predetermined steps.It is to be noted that memory connected through the I/F 37 may functionas the entirety or a part of the storage part 24.

The image processing block 35 includes a graphic processing unit (GPU)39 and a video RAM (VRAM) 40. Further, the GPU 39 and the VRAM 40 areconnected in order to permit transmission/reception of information. InFIG. 2, reference numeral 41 designates a display part (monitor), andreference numeral 42 designates a speaker.

In this embodiment, for example, work areas of the CPU 32, thearithmetic processing part 33 and the storage part 34 of the client, andthe program for game stored in the information recording medium 38 ofthe client may function as the party storage part 10, the conditionstorage part 11, resurrection point storage part 12, the determiningpart 13, the resurrection point extracting part 14, the resurrectionpoint display part 15, the text information display part 16, the judgingmeans 17, the game processing part 18 and the resurrection processingpart 19. In the case where operating information is inputted from theinput part 31, the operating information is transmitted to the CPU 32through the bus 36. Thus, the CPU 32 serves to read out programs storedin the information recording medium 38 to perform a predeterminedprocessing. The CPU 32 serves to read out various information stored inthe storage part 34 and/or the information recording medium 38 inaccordance with command from the program to perform a predeterminedoperation at the arithmetic processing part 33. The CPU 32 serves tostore computational result into the storage part 34 as occasion demandsto output suitable information from a monitor 41 or a speaker 42 byusing the computational result.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a game system according to the presentinvention. The game system according to the present invention includesparty storage part 10, condition storage part 11, resurrection pointstorage part 12, determining part 13, resurrection point extracting part14, resurrection point display part 15, text information display part16, judging means 17, game processing part 18 and resurrectionprocessing part 19. These respective components are connected so thattransmission/reception of information can be performed through the bus.It is to be noted that these components are connected by either thesever 2 or the clients 3 constituting the game system.

The party storage part 10 is adapted so that there are stored partyinformation relating to party in which a plurality of characters areincluded. The characters are generated by the image processing part, andare displayed on the display screen 41 of the client 3. The charactersare subjected to input manipulation by input parts of respective clients3, and act within a virtual space provided by the game server. Moreover,the party means group or faction including characters, and player whichmanipulates character can arbitrarily collect other players toconstitute a party. It is to be noted that party may be constituted bysingle character in the computer processing. Moreover, the number ofcharacters constituting the party may be varied as occasion demands inaccordance with the progress of the game. The party information arestored in the party storage part 11 in such a manner that one or pluralcharacter IDs or player IDs included within a party are associatedtherewith.

The game system according to the present invention may include a storagepart for storing characters IDs or player IDs in addition thereto. Ingeneral game systems, a plurality of ID information may be stored. Inthe case of the game system related to the member's system web site,member's No. of the web site may be used as ID information. Moreover,e.g., ID information assigned in order of joining of member may be used.In this case, in general, a part of data base of the server functions asID information storage part. Further, in the case where the game systemis the card game system and utilizes private card, there may be used IDinformation assigned to a card indicating player ID or character ID.

The condition storage part 11 serves to store a condition where theparty is placed in game over state. The condition where the party isplaced in game over state is set as occasion demands every scenario ortask of the game, for example, as in the case where HP parameters of allcharacters included within a party become equal to zero, in the casewhere HP of a specific character within a party becomes equal zero, inthe case where limit time which is set for attaining the task ispassed., and in the case where a specific object within a game is brokenby enemy character. Moreover, the condition storage part 11 may store acondition where character is placed in game over state as in the casewhere the HP parameter becomes equal zero to store, as game overcondition, the fact that all characters included within a party areplaced in game over state. It is to be noted that there may be employedsuch a scheme to store clear condition every scenario or task of thegame into the condition storage part 11 to set the case where such clearcondition is not satisfied as game over condition.

The resurrection point storage part 12 serves to store resurrectionpoints of respective characters included within a party. Theresurrection points referred to here mean points within a virtual spacewhere the progress of the game of player characters is last updated(saved), and are stored in a memory part (including memory connectedthrough I/F) of the clients or the game server. In general RPGs, a savepoint at which the progress of the game of player characters can beupdated is limited to a specific location. Further, when playercharacter is placed in game over state, the player character is restoredat a save point at which update of the progress has been last performed.In the specification, such save point at which update of the progresshas been last performed is called resurrection point.

The resurrection point storage part 12 serves to store resurrectionpoint with respect to characters included within a party. In concreteterms, the resurrection point storage part 12 serves to storeinformation relating to resurrection point in such a manner associatedwith IDs which are set every characters or IDs which are set everyplayers which manipulate characters. As an example of informationrelating to resurrection point, there are enumerated name ofresurrection point, x, y coordinate values of a field within a virtualspace and/or ID information such as street or church, etc. existingwithin a virtual space.

The determining part 13 serves to determine, by making reference to theparty storage part 10 and the condition storage part 11, as to whetheror not game over condition where party is placed in game over state issatisfied. In concrete terms, the determining part 13 serves to specifyrespective characters included within a party by making reference to theparty storage part 10. Further, the determining part 13 serves todetermine, on the basis of information relating to characters includedwithin a party, by making reference to the condition storage part 11, asto whether or not a certain party satisfies the game over condition. Thedetermining part 13 serves to determine game over condition, e.g., onthe basis of HP parameters of characters included within a party.Further, the determining part 13 may serve to determine, by makingreference to the party storage part 10 and the condition storage part11, as to whether or not all characters included within a party satisfythe game over condition.

The resurrection point extracting part 10 is operative so that when thedetermining part 13 has determined that the game over condition issatisfied, it serves to extract information relating to resurrectionpoint of characters included within a party from the resurrection pointstorage part 12. For example, in the case where the storage part of aclient functions as resurrection point storage part 12, the resurrectionpoint extracting part 14 serves to provide access to a memory part of aclient which manipulates character included within a party to read out alocation of resurrection point of character and/or name of resurrectionpoint to temporarily store its result at the server. This processing isperformed with respect to all clients which manipulate charactersincluded within the party to collect information relating toresurrection points of all characters included within the party.

The resurrection point display part 15 serves to display informationrelating to resurrection points of characters extracted by theresurrection point extracting part 14 on respective screens of clientswhich perform input manipulation of characters included within a party.Thus, the resurrection point display part 15 serves to hasten user ofthe game to select resurrection points.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an image in which information 51 relating toresurrection points is displayed on the display screen of the client.FIG. 4 shows an example in which character A, character B and characterC are stored in the party storage part 10 in such a manner that theyconstruct a party. Moreover, in the example of FIG. 4, there aredisplayed names of characters (chara A, chara B and chara C) and namesof resurrection points (point α, point β and point ν) at the right andupper part of the display screen. Further, text of “Back to where?” isdisplayed thus to hasten player of a game to select resurrection point.

The resurrection point display part 15 serves to display onlyresurrection point in which character subject to input manipulation by aclient has gained experience among resurrection points extracted by theresurrection point extracting part 14 on a display part of the client.Thus, user of the game is hastened to make selection of nextresurrection point among resurrection points having gained experience.Namely, the resurrection point display part 15 serves to select aresurrection point at which character has gained experience among theextracted resurrection points to display the resurrection point thusselected on the display part of the client. Accordingly, even if anyresurrection point is stored in the resurrection point storage part asresurrection point of any other character, it is not displayed on thedisplay part of a client which manipulates character having no gainedexperience at the resurrection point.

Resurrection points at which character has been reached are graduallyincreased in accordance with the progress of the game. Informationrelating to resurrection point at which respective characters have beenreached are stored in the memory part of the clients or the server.Namely, the game proceeds. Thus, when character gains a new resurrectionpoint, there is stored the fact that its character has gained the newresurrection point. In this way, information relating to resurrectionpoints having gained experience with respect to respective charactersare stored in the storage part of the client or the server. Further, theresurrection point display part 15 serves to judge, by making referenceto the storage part, as to whether or not a corresponding resurrectionpoint is resurrection points having gained experience with respect torespective characters included within a party among resurrection pointsextracted by the resurrection point extracting part 14 to display only aresurrection point or resurrection points having gained experience onthe display part of the respective clients.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of display of informationrelating to resurrection points displayed on display parts of respectiveclients constituting a party. For example, FIG. 5(a) shows informationrelating to resurrection points displayed on the display part of aclient 3 a, FIG. 5(b) shows information relating to resurrection pointsdisplayed on the display part of a client 3 b, and FIG. 5(c) showsinformation relating to resurrection points displayed on the displaypart of a client 3 c. In this example, chara A, chara B and chara Crespectively designate names of characters subjected to inputmanipulation by the client 3 a, the client 3 b and the client 3 c,wherein a party is constituted by the chara A, chara B and chara C.Here, the chara A has gained experiences also at the point (βand thepoint ν which are resurrection points of the chara B and the chara C.Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5(a), point α, point β and point ν aredisplayed on the display part of the client 3 a which manipulates thechara A. On the other hand, the chara B has gained experience at thepoint a which is resurrection point of the chara A, but hasnon-attainment at the point ν which is resurrection point chara C.Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5(b), only point α and point β aredisplayed on the display part of the client 3B which manipulates charaB. Similarly, the chara C has gained experience in the point α which isresurrection point of the chara A, but has non-attainment at the point βwhich is resurrection point of the chara B. Accordingly, as shown inFIG. 5(c), only the point a and the point ν are displayed on the displaypart of the client 3 c which manipulates the chara C.

The text information display part 16 serves to display text informationinputted by input parts (keyboard, etc.) of respective clients includedwithin a party on display screens of the clients and display screens ofother clients connected through Internet. Namely, when text informationis inputted, the client serves to transmit the inputted text informationto the server through the Internet, and to display it on the displaypart. When the game server receives text information from a client, itserves to transmit its text information to any other client includedwithin the party. The other client which has received text informationfrom the server serves to display the received text information on thedisplay part.

Particularly, the text information display part 16 serves to displaytext information inputted to a client having party relationship amongtext information inputted to input parts of respective clients in amanner adjacent to character information. In the character information,there are included face images of characters, names of characters andvarious parameters relating to the characters.

In FIG. 4, there is shown an example in which character information ofrespective characters and inputted text information are displayed on thedisplay screen of the client. In FIG. 4, at the right and lower end ofthe display screen, there are displayed character information 53 ofchara A, chara B and chara C. Moreover, in FIG. 4, pop-up display oftext information 54 inputted through the input part of a client whichmanipulates characters is performed at a part adjacent to the left ofthe character information 53. In this embodiment, after text information54 is inputted to input parts of respective clients, they arecontinuously displayed on the display screen for 20 sec. Further,setting is made such that after 20 sec. is passed from a time when thetext information 54 is inputted, it disappears from onto the displayscreen. In this way, game player can consult a resurrection point to beselected through conversation by chat.

The judging means 17 serves to judge as to whether or not resurectablepoints inputted and selected by input parts of respective clients whichperform input manipulation of characters included within a partycoincide with each other. When resurrection point of character includedwithin the party is displayed by the resurrection point display part,user of the game serves to select desired resurrection point fromresurrection points displayed on the display part of the client.Information of the resurrection point selected by the user aretemporarily stored every clients. Further, the judging means 17 servesto read out information of resurrection point selected every client fromthe storage part to judge as to whether or not resurrection pointsselected by the user coincide with each other.

The game processing part 18 serves so that when it is judged by thejudging means 17 that resurrectable points selected by user do notcoincide with each other, it executes a game for determining one winneramong a plurality of characters included within the party. The gameprocessing part 18 serves to read out game control program stored in amemory of the storage part 24 of the game server to execute gameprocessing. It is to be noted that, as the game control program, theremay be employed such a game control program stored into a memoryconnected through I/F of the client and/or such a game control programstored into a memory of client by performing download from the gameserver.

As a game executed by the game processing part 18, there may be employeda game in which a single winner is determined, but games of variousforms are conceivable. The contents of games to be executed arescissors-paper-rock game, dice game, card game, shooter game andfighting game. A processing for executing the game is already known.When winner of the game is determined by the game processing part 18,information relating to a winner of the game is temporarily stored inthe storage part.

It is to be noted that the configuration adapted for starting gameprocessing when resurrection points selected by user do not coincidewith each other may be arbitrary. There may be employed a configurationsuch that even when resurrection points selected by user do not coincidewith each other, characters are restored at resurrection points selectedby respective users. Moreover, there may be also employed a scheme toallow user to select as to whether or not game processing is started forthe purpose of causing resurrection points to coincident with eachother.

In principle, the resurrection processing part 19 serves to restorecharacters at resurrection points selected by input parts of clients.Information relating to resurrection points are stored in theresurrection point storage part 12. The resurrection processing part 19serves to read out information relating to resurrection points from theresurrection point recording part 12 to restore characters at pointswhere resurrection points selected within a virtual space exist. Theresurrection processing part 19 may be configured so that, whenrestoring characters, all parameters (e.g., hit point, experience point,money in hand) of the character are returned to the state of a timepoint when progress of the game is saved at the resurrection point.Moreover, the resurrection processing part 19 may be configured tomaintain the state of parameters at a time point when character isbrought into game over to return only a position where the characterexist back at resurrection point. Further, the resurrection processingpart 19 may be configured to maintain the state at a time point of gameover in regard to a specific parameter or parameters, or to changenumeral values in regard to other parameters.

On the other hand, in the case of the configuration or setting in whichgame processing for determining one winner is started when resurrectionpoints selected by user do not coincide with each other, theresurrection processing part 19 serves to store all characters within aparty at a resurrection point selected by winner of a game executed bythe game processing part 18. In this case, the resurrection processingpart 19 performs a processing to read out, from the storage part,resurrection point that a winner of the game determined by the gameprocessing part 18 selects to restore characters included within theparty at the resurrection point.

The operation of the game system according to this embodiment will nowbe described with reference to FIG. 6.

The game system serves to specify characters included within a party onthe basis of party information stored in the party storage part 10.Further, by the determining part 13, whether or not the game overcondition where party is placed in game over state is satisfied isdetermined on the basis of information relating to characters includedwithin the party by making reference to the game over condition storedin the condition storage part 11 (step S1). For example, the determiningpart 13 serves so that when HP parameters of all characters includedwithin a party become equal to zero, it is determined that the concernedparty is placed in game over state.

When the determining part 13 determines that the condition where theparty is placed in game over state is not satisfied, process by the gamesystem returns to a game processing ordinarily executed.

On the other hand, the determining part 14 serves so that when it isdetermined that the condition where the party is placed in game overstate is satisfied, the resurrection point extracting part 14 serves toextract respective resurrection points of characters included within theparty from the resurrection point storage part 12 (step S2). In theflowchart of FIG. 6, there is shown an example of the case where threecharacters are included within the party, and resurrection points arestored as A, B and C with respect to three characters. Accordingly,resurrection points that the resurrection point extracting point 14extracts from the resurrection point storage part 12 are respectivelydesignated as A, B and C.

Next, the resurrection point display part 15 serves to determine as towhether or not respective characters included within the party can berestored with respect to respective extracted resurrection points bymaking reference to the storage part in which respective charactersstore points having gained experience (step S3 a, step S3 b, step S3 c).Namely, the resurrection point display part 15 serves so that whenresurrection point at which character has gained experience andresurrection point of a character included within the party coincidewith each other, it is determined that the concerned character can berestored with respect to the coincident point. In the flowchart of FIG.6, it is judged that respective characters included within the party canbe restored with respect to A, B and C which are extracted resurrectionpoints.

The resurrection point display part 15 serves to display information ofresurrection point in which it is judged that character can be stored onthe display part of a client which manipulates its character (step S4).On the other hand, information of resurrection point in which it isjudged that character cannot be restored is not displayed on the displaypart of a client which manipulates its character (step S4′).

Next, there is performed such a display to hasten respective users toselect a desired resurrection point from resurrection points displayedon the display screen of the client (step S5). Thus, user selectsdesired resurrection point through the input part from the displayedresurrection points on the basis such display.

When selection of resurrection points is performed by respective userswho operate characters included within the party, the judging part 17serves to judge as to whether or not the selected resurrection pointscoincide with each other (step S6).

In the case where it is judged by the judging part 17 that resurrectionpoints selected by users which have party relationship coincide witheach other, the resurrection processing part 19 executes a predeterminedresurrection processing (step S9). For example, the resurrectionprocessing part 19 serves to read out information relating to theresurrection pints from the resurrection point storage part 12 torestore a character at a point where a selected resurrection pointsexits within the virtual space.

On the other hand, in the case where it is judged by the judging part 17that resurrection points selected by users which have party relationshipdo not coincide with each other, the game processing for determining onewinner from characters included within the party is executed by the gameprocessing part 18 (step S7). The game processing part 18 serves todetermine one winner from characters included within the party on thebasis of the result of the game processing which has been executed (stepS8).

Further, the resurrection processing part 19 performs a resurrectionprocessing to read out information relating to resurrection points fromthe resurrection point storage part 12 to restore all charactersincluded within the party at resurrection points selected by playerswhich manipulate characters that the game processing part 18 hasdetermined (step S9).

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention can be suitably utilized in game industry andsoftware industry.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   1 Game system-   2 Server-   3 Client-   10 Party storage part-   11 Condition storage part-   12 Resurrection point storage part-   13 Determining part-   14 Resurrection point extracting part-   15 Resurrection point display part-   16 Text information display part-   17 Judging means-   18 Game processing part-   19 Resurrection processing part-   21 Input/Output part-   22 Arithmetic processing part-   23 Control part-   24 Storage part-   25 Bus-   31 Input part-   32 CPU-   33 Arithmetic processing part-   34 Storage part-   35 Image processing block-   36 Bus-   37 I/F-   38 Information recording medium-   39 GPU-   40 VRAM-   41 Display screen-   42 Speaker

What is claimed is:
 1. A game server for executing a network game in aninformation communication network, the network game including characterswhich exist within a virtual space provided by the game server and whichare subject to input manipulation by players, the game servercomprising: a party storage for storing party information relating to aparty, the party including a plurality of characters subject to theinput manipulation by the players; a reached points storage for storing,for each character of the plurality of characters, at least one pointthat the character has reached; and an interface for transmitting, for afirst character of the plurality of characters, display information thatis operative to display on a first client of one of the players thatmanipulates the first character the at least one point that the firstcharacter has reached, and to also display on the first client to theone of the players the at least one point that each other character ofthe plurality of characters except the first character has reached andthat the first character has also reached, wherein the displayinformation is further operative to display on the first client anindicia that hides from the one of the players the at least one pointthat each other character of the plurality of characters except thefirst character has reached and that the first character has notreached, and the interface is operative to transmit the displayinformation to the first client during a location selection process, forreceiving a selection of a location for the first character in thevirtual space from the one of the players, during the network game. 2.The game server according to claim 1, further comprising: a transporterfor transporting the first character to a point that is selected by theone of the players from among the at least one point that the firstcharacter has reached and that is displayable by the display informationon the first client.
 3. The game server according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a transporter for transporting the first character to afirst point that is selected by an other of the players thatmanipulates, on a second client, an other character from among the atleast one point that the other character has reached when a second pointthat is selected by the other of the players from among the at least onepoint that the first character has reached and that is displayable bythe display information does not coincide with the first point.
 4. Thegame server according to claim 1, further comprising: a firsttransporter for transporting the first character to a first point thatis selected by the one of the players from among the at least one pointthat the first character has reached and that is displayable by thedisplay information; a second transporter for transporting the firstcharacter to a second point that is selected by an other of the playersthat manipulates, on a second client, an other character from among theat least one point that the other character has reached; and a judgerfor judging whether to transport the first character to one of the firstpoint in accordance with the first transporter and the second point inaccordance with the second transporter when the first point and thesecond point do not coincide.
 5. The game server according to claim 4,wherein the judger judges whether to transport the first character toone of the first point in accordance with the first transporter and thesecond point in accordance with the second transporter based on a winnerof a second game executed between the first client and another client.6. The game server according to claim 1, wherein the interface transmitsthe display information for the first character in response to the firstcharacter satisfying a predetermined condition.
 7. The game serveraccording to claim 6, wherein the predetermined condition includes thefirst character being placed in a game over state.
 8. The game serveraccording to claim 7, wherein the predetermined condition furtherincludes each other character being placed in the game over state. 9.The game server according to claim 8, wherein the display information isoperative to display on the first client the at least one point that thefirst character has reached, and to also display the at least one pointthat each other character has reached and that the first character hasalso reached for a predetermined time period for allowing the one of theplayers and each other player to consult a resurrection point.
 10. Thegame server according to claim 9, further comprising: a text interfacefor transmitting, for the first character, text information that isoperative to display on the first client consultation informationinputted by each other player for consulting about the resurrectionpoint.
 11. The game server according to claim 1, wherein the displayinformation is operative to display on the first client the at least onepoint that the first character has reached, and to also display the atleast one point that each other character has reached and that the firstcharacter has also reached in a table.
 12. The game server according toclaim 11, wherein the display information is operative to indicate, inthe table, one of the at least one point that the first character hasreached that is selected by the one of the players, and to furtherindicate, in the table, one of the at least one point that each othercharacter has reached and that the first character has also reached thatis selected by each other player.
 13. The game server according to claim1, wherein the display information is operative to indicate to the oneof the players at least one point that any other character has reachedand that the first character has not reached.
 14. The game serveraccording to claim 13, wherein the display information is operative toindicate to the one of the players the at least one point that any othercharacter has reached and that the first character has not reached bydisplaying a predetermined symbol instead of the at least one point thatany other character has reached and that the first character has notreached.
 15. The game server according to claim 1, wherein each of theat least one point that the character has reached corresponds to alocation in the virtual space.
 16. The game server according to claim 1,wherein the at least one point that is stored for each character isgradually increased in accordance with a progress of the network game.17. The game server according to claim 1, wherein the displayinformation is operative to: display to the one of the players the atleast one point that the first character has reached in association withthe first character; display to the one of the players the at least onepoint that each other character of the plurality of characters exceptthe first character has reached and that the first character has alsoreached in association with each other character; and display theindicia that hides from the one of the players the at least one pointthat each other character of the plurality of characters except thefirst character has reached and that the first character has not reachedin association with each other character.
 18. The game server accordingto claim 1, wherein the interface transmits the display information toall clients of the players which manipulate the plurality of charactersincluded in the party during the location selection process, and theinterface transmits the display information to the players via theinformation communication network.
 19. The game server according toclaim 18, wherein the interface receives text information inputted byone of the players that manipulates one of the plurality of charactersincluded in the party during the location selection process, and theinterface transmits the text information to each of the players, exceptthe one player that inputted the text information, during the locationselection process.
 20. The game server according to claim 1, wherein aclient of each of the players successively stores resurrection pointsthat a corresponding one of the plurality of characters has reached inaccordance with a progress of the network game, when a game overcondition is satisfied during the progress of the network game, theserver extracts, from each client, a resurrection point from among theresurrection points that the corresponding one of the plurality ofcharacters has reached, and the display information corresponds to theresurrection point extracted from each client.
 21. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium including a program for executing a networkgame in an information communication network, the network game includingcharacters which exist within a virtual space provided by a game serverand which are subject to input manipulation by players, the programcausing the computer to execute: storing party information relating to aparty in a party storage, the party including a plurality of characterssubject to the input manipulation by the players; storing, for eachcharacter of the plurality of characters, at least one point that thecharacter has reached in a reached points storage; and transmitting, viaan interface and for a first character of the plurality of characters,display information that is operative to display on a first client ofone of the players that manipulates the first character the at least onepoint that the first character has reached, and to also display on thefirst client to the one of the players the at least one point that eachother character of the plurality of characters except the firstcharacter has reached and that the first character has also reached,wherein the display information is further operative to display on thefirst client an indicia that hides from the one of the players the atleast one point that each other character of the plurality of charactersexcept the first character has reached and that the first character hasnot reached, and the display information is transmitted to the firstclient during a location selection process, for selecting a location forthe first character in the virtual space, during the network game. 22.The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 21,wherein the program further causes the computer to execute: transportingthe first character to a point that is selected by the one of theplayers from among the at least one point that the first character hasreached and that is displayable by the display information.
 23. A gamesystem for executing a network game in an information communicationnetwork, the network game including characters which exist within avirtual space provided by a game server and which are subject to inputmanipulation by players, the game system comprising: the game server,including: a party storage for storing party information relating to aparty, the party including a plurality of characters subject to theinput manipulation by the players; a reached points storage for storing,for each character of the plurality of characters, at least one pointthat the character has reached; and a server interface for transmitting,for a first character of the plurality of characters, displayinformation that is operative to display on a first client of one of theplayers that manipulates the first character the at least one point thatthe first character has reached, to also display on the first client tothe one of the players the at least one point that each other characterof the plurality of characters except the first character has reachedand that the first character has also reached, and to further display onthe first client an indicia that hides from the one of the players theat least one point that each other character of the plurality ofcharacters except the first character has reached and that the firstcharacter has not reached; and the clients, each corresponding to one ofthe plurality of characters and including: a client interface forreceiving the display information transmitted from the server interface;and a game display for displaying the display information to display foran associated character of the plurality of characters the at least onepoint that the associated character has reached, to also display for theassociated character the at least one point that each other character ofthe plurality of characters except the associated character has reachedand that the associated character has also reached, and to furtherdisplay for the associated character the at least one point that eachother character of the plurality of characters except the associatedcharacter has reached and that the associated character has not reached,wherein the server interface is operative to transmit the displayinformation to the first client during a location selection process, forselecting a location for the first character in the virtual space,during the network game.
 24. The game system according to claim 23,wherein the server further comprises a transporter for transporting thefirst character to a point that is selected by the one of the playersfrom among the at least one point that the first character has reachedand that is displayable by the display information on the first client.